Voodoo Pilot, a four-piece blues/rock
outfit from Chicago, delivers song after quality song on their latest CD release Sometimes
and begs this reviewer to wonder why this band does not have a higher profile. The band is
very good at taking the basic elements of their style, which have all been done a million
and one times, and creating fresh, interesting tunes with them. That, as anyone who has
ever tried to be traditional and original at the same time will tell you, is no mean feat.
Too often, bands like VP get lost in cliché and instrumental bombast and never create
anything of value. No such worries here, however. Voodoo Pilot is creative enough in their
writing and skilled enough in their playing to strike a balance between brains and brawn
that doesn’t sacrifice one side of the equation for the other.
Imagine Neil Young with no pitch problems singing over Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers
of the late 1970’s and you start to get an idea of what these guys sound like. The
disc has electric and acoustic elements to it that exist quite harmoniously with one
another, cool vocal hooks courtesy of lead singer John Liggett, and fiery lead and slide
guitar played by Bill Galey. Standout cuts include "I’m Gone," which rocks
like a freight train coming and the title track "Sometimes," which really shows
Liggett’s Neil Young influence without crossing the line into sound-alike territory.
All in all, this is a fun and satisfying CD for anyone into classic blues/folk rock
sounds, great songwriting and musicianship, and all the other cool things rock and roll
used to be about before it turned into one big explosion of anger. Voodoo Pilot brings it
old school and comes across like a big breath of fresh air in the process. This is good
stuff from a band that deserves a larger audience. Hopefully, that will come.
